Story Summary:
Selected from nearly 1,000 entries, Suzy Dean, AddIn365 CEO, was announced as the winner of an everywoman Entrepreneur Award in December 2022, the UK’s longest running award’s programme for women in business. In the past 12 months, the business has seen growth in both turnover and talent, and Suzy has been invited to sit on the judging panel of the 2023 everywoman Entrepreneur Awards.
Winner’s confidence
Since winning the award in December 2022, Suzy Dean, CEO of AddIn365 reflects on how it’s impacted her.
“Looking back almost a year later, I still cannot express how much the award meant to me. Winning the everywoman Entrepreneur Award in 2022 gave me, personally, a lot of confidence in my ability. We have a board and external expertise, but there is sometimes that thought of, am I doing this right? The award gave me some validation, and with BGF sponsoring that category, it was even more validating, because it’s their job to look at these businesses and see if they’re viable. So, to have their ‘vote’, was a huge confidence boost. And in addition, the award has even positively affected the business, in terms of employee growth, credibility, and turnover.”
Business growth
In the past 12 months, Addin365 has grown another 30% and has even increased the business’ headcount 50% this year; building out the marketing and consulting team especially.
On the day of the awards, Suzy connected with and learnt from a broader network of female entrepreneurs. She added:
“It was remarkable to speak to all the other finalists and winners, who were at all stages of their entrepreneurial journey, in a vast range of industries and sizes of business. I found the conversations on the night invaluable. How often do you get to have conversations with women 10 years ahead of yourself and gain valuable knowledge, ask questions, and expand your network? The ideas that came out of those conversations around KPIs and business strategy that I took away and implemented.”
Talent pool
AddIn365 have been able to attract a stronger talent pool because of awards and its publicity. For example, their recent hire of a Head of Marketing saw that Suzy had won and said that it influenced them to apply because it demonstrated that D&I in the workplace was not just something that was spoken about, but they were living and breathing it, and had even been recognised for it with an award.
Joining the judging panel
From winning the award last year, Suzy Dean has now been invited to join the 2023 everywoman Entrepreneur Award’s judging panel, comprising some of the UK’s most successful women in business as well as VCS and investors who are at the forefront of closing the funding gap with their diverse portfolios. Judges include Chrissie Rucker (Founder of The White Company), Mandy Nyarko MBE (Angel Investor at Ada Ventures and Co-Founder of Discovery School), Connie Nam (Founder of Astrid and Miyu) and Libby Gibson (Partner at Piper PE LLP), amongst others.
Speaking about being a judge, Suzy said:
“It’s been great reading other women’s stories from such varied businesses and industries. I’ve found it very interesting to see the diversity of business models and different approaches to running and funding businesses. As a judge I’ve learnt a lot reading the entries. I think it is so important to have awards, like the everywoman awards, because it’s a place to take stock of what you have achieved, which can be difficult to do when you’re running a business, especially with the added pressures in the early years when you’re backed up with work, have a teething baby, a pile of washing, but these programmes show that you are not alone. It’s important to recognise your success and recognise and learn from the success of other brilliant women.”
Continuing to live and breathe D&I
As part of AddIn365’s commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, we are sponsoring the Tech Innovator category at this year’s everywoman Entrepreneur Awards, which is awarded to a woman who is creating innovative tech that is creating change within industry. AddIn365 also supported everywoman’s annual Early Career’s Day, where STEM students can learn from the most influential tech leaders, as well as provide them with an opportunity to network with leading technology companies and mentors.